This volume outlines a fresh view on pension plans from the perspective of both the employer and employee, describing the possibilities in American labor relations and in Congress to meet employers' needs to compete and to fulfill the enduring desire of workers to plan for a financially secure period of leisure at the end of their working lives. The authors examine the advantages to employers from sponsoring a defined benefit plan and focus on ways to stabilize defined benefit plan coverage. They also look into the need for changes in regulations governing defined contribution plans, offering a number of innovative policy solutions. Finally, they provide insight into the political and institutional constraints that may impede the creation of new pension legislation that could help to strengthen defined benefit plans and improve defined contribution plans.


Contributors
Beth Almeida, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Laura P. D'Arcy University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teresa Ghilarducci, University of Notre Dame
Luisa Grillo-Chope, National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
Sharon Hermes, U.S. Government Accountability Office
William Lazonick, University of Massachusetts-Lowell
David Madland, Georgetown University
Pamela Perun, Aspen Institute
Eric Rodriguez National Council of La Raza (NCLR)
Sylvester J. Schieber, Watson Wyatt Worldwide
Michele Varnhagen, U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor
Christian E. Weller, Center for American Progress
Jeffrey B. Wenger, University of Georgia

About the Author

Teresa Ghilarducci is Professor of Economics and the Schwartz Chair in Economic Policy Analysis at the New School and a Fellow at the New School's Institute for Latino Studies. She is the author of Labor's Capital: The Economics and Politics of Employer Pensions and the coauthor of Portable Pension Plans for Casual Labor Markets. Christian E. Weller is a senior economist at the Center for American Progress, a research associate with the Economic Policy Institute and a research scholar with the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Industrial and Labor Relations
Political Science / Public Administration & Policy
Economics & Finance